Welcome to Cruise Critic! If you'd like to participate on our forums by joining in the conversation, please Register Now! Be sure to visit our FAMOUS Roll Call forums, where you can meet other cruisers sailing with you and share a tour or shore excursion and SAVE MONEY!

Unregistered, just back from your river cruise? Get published on Cruise Critic; Write a Review!

My DH and I are taking the Avalon Legendary Danube Cruise only from Nuremberg to Budapest starting Sunday, 8/25. I just received a phone call from an Avalon agent to let us know that Verdi is planning another lock strike on the Danube. We will meet at a hotel in Nuremberg, then be bussed to the ship. He didn't know the dates or extent of the lock closures. He said they are calling all cruise-only passengers so we know what to do when we arrive in Nuremberg. I appreciate that Avalon contacted us but am a little apprehensive about what to expect. We don't want this to turn into the dreaded bus trip! I emailed my TA to see if she has any other information. I'll post an update when I hear back from her.

As far as i have Heard, Southern Germany will be the target for next week. The Last two Weeks Hit Berlin, the Kiel Canal and lower saxony.

So does this mean the strikes will be back on the Danube next week? We leave August 27th from Nuremburg to Budapest. AMA has not notified us yet.
Based on Lobes1 comments regarding last weeks cruise aboard the AMALyra I guess I should be ready to be patient, adaptable & lower my expectations!
Too late now guess we'll learn to go with the flow (literally).

We are on the Avalon Visionary now headed to Vienna from Budapest and we will be in Regensburg on Monday August 25 and Nuremberg on Tuesday August 26. Why didn't our cruise director tell us about the lock strike and that we will be affected by it? Obviously, Avalon knows about it since they called the OP. We will be most disturbed by this lack of disclosure if this proves to be the case. I truly hope that Avalon has a good explanation for not telling their current passengers that our cruise is not going to proceed as planned. Tomorrow we will ask our CD what the situation is expected to be as we head to Nuremberg hopefully he will tell us what is going on.

We are on the Avalon Visionary now headed to Vienna from Budapest and we will be in Regensburg on Monday August 25 and Nuremberg on Tuesday August 26. Why didn't our cruise director tell us about the lock strike and that we will be affected by it? Obviously, Avalon knows about it since they called the OP. We will be most disturbed by this lack of disclosure if this proves to be the case. I truly hope that Avalon has a good explanation for not telling their current passengers that our cruise is not going to proceed as planned. Tomorrow we will ask our CD what the situation is expected to be as we head to Nuremberg hopefully he will tell us what is going on.

My TA told me she hadn't heard of the strike until I emailed her. She contacted Avalon but they gave her no further information. The Avalon agent did tell me that they were contacting the 'cruise only' passengers on our cruise. I take that to mean that those who are doing the Prague pre-extension haven't been told. Burma, maybe we will swap ships; we're supposed to be in Nuremberg on Monday and Regensburg on Tuesday...

My TA told me she hadn't heard of the strike until I emailed her. She contacted Avalon but they gave her no further information. The Avalon agent did tell me that they were contacting the 'cruise only' passengers on our cruise. I take that to mean that those who are doing the Prague pre-extension haven't been told. Burma, maybe we will swap ships; we're supposed to be in Nuremberg on Monday and Regensburg on Tuesday...

We are doing Viking in Oct. Keep us posted. Enjoy; try not to sweat their unprofessionalism by not keeping you informed.

We are on the Avalon Visionary now headed to Vienna from Budapest and we will be in Regensburg on Monday August 25 and Nuremberg on Tuesday August 26. Why didn't our cruise director tell us about the lock strike and that we will be affected by it? Obviously, Avalon knows about it since they called the OP. We will be most disturbed by this lack of disclosure if this proves to be the case. I truly hope that Avalon has a good explanation for not telling their current passengers that our cruise is not going to proceed as planned. Tomorrow we will ask our CD what the situation is expected to be as we head to Nuremberg hopefully he will tell us what is going on.

To be honest the best advice is to forget this, relax and enjoy your holiday. The strike may or may not happen - no-one really knows at this stage.

I was on the Danube during the first strikes, I could see on these boards that a strike was a possibility and privately asked the CD what was happening and she told me that they were trying to find out as much as possible and had a few plans just in case, her attitude was don't worry about things that can't be changed - it was her job to worry and sort it out !!

As it happens, our boat was stuck in Regensberg for 2 days and she had the alternative plans ready to tell us at the evening briefing & gave us the individual choice of 2 options. We were not told officially about the strike until about the time that we should have sailed from Regensberg so that it did not ruin our day in that lovely town.

To be honest that is the best approach, it is for the Cruise Director to worry and have at least 3 alternative plans ready and it is for us to relax and enjoy our holiday !!

As the french say Que sera sera (What will be will be) or to quote Benjamin Frankin "Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight"

Have a lovely adventure (whatever happens), one of our best lunches on our cruise was in a hastily arranged lunch which was part of plan C.

Our CD on the Avalon Visionary just told us that Avalon has no specific information regarding the lock strikes but will inform us of changes in advance if the strikes have an impact on us. I guess the information they have is for travelers who are on their way to this region from the airport... not for passengers already on the Danube that are heading toward the the same region. Oh well, there is nothing we can do about it...we are hoping that we are able to continue our cruise all the way to Nuremberg without any hassles.

Thank you, everyone, for your concerns and general, “go with the flow” attitude.

Our operations team continues to be in contact with river authorities, the union and several other sources to receive up-to-date insight and information on possible strikes.

As a result, we know there may be strike disruptions on the Main River this week but we have no information about strikes on other rivers in the coming weeks.

Should strikes occur, causing lock closures, we can and will offer our cruisers contingency plans that focus on one goal: Helping our travelers enjoy Europe and its beautiful villages, towns, cities and landscapes.

Thank you again for your understanding of this fluid situation,
Avalon Waterways

We are currently in Wurzburg, on Viking Tor traveling between Amsterdam and Budapest. We have been affected by what our CD calls " unusually heavy river traffic". No one on Viking has used the word "strike" or mentioned union discord. There have been minor schedule changes Involving disembarking at alternative locations, short bus rides to our scheduled destination, and waiting for the ship to catch up to us. Overall it's been a very enjoyable cruise with minor disruption. The crew is working hard to see that our needs are met. My only complaint is the lack of advance communication when there are problems. For example, the map on the tv has been inoperable since our departure and no announcement has ever been made. When asked how we are to know where we are and what we're seeing on land, the concierge says that most people don't want to know, but if we do we can buy a map. That has been the biggest disappointment so far, so I guess things could be a lot worse.

Our CD told us all that if we don't know about when the strike is starting by 6PM today we will not risk leaving Regensburg for Nuremberg. We will stay in Regensburg and be bussed to do our tour of Nuremberg and then return to the ship and leave to go to Prague from Regensburg. This will be an easy solution. So we had an excellent trip so far. Looking forward to the rest of the itinerary.

Our CD told us all that if we don't know about when the strike is starting by 6PM today we will not risk leaving Regensburg for Nuremberg. We will stay in Regensburg and be bussed to do our tour of Nuremberg and then return to the ship and leave to go to Prague from Regensburg. This will be an easy solution. So we had an excellent trip so far. Looking forward to the rest of the itinerary.

No strike. So we sail to our last stop in Nuremberg. We have had a wonderful trip and would definitely recommend this itinerary and the Avalon Visionary to anyone who is considering a riverboat cruise.